Battling Multiple Sclerosis

By Robert Groth

The year was 1989. I was then 17, about to graduate from high school in a few months. During those last few weeks leading up to graduation, I felt like I practically held the world in my hands. I was invincible! After all, I didn’t have any problems being accepted in a special program for arts and music at St. Olaf College, as I have been playing the oboe with great success from sixth grade all through high school. It seemed to be my destiny – and at that time, my future looked so bright.

That year, I spent one of the most fantastic holidays ever with my parents, my two sisters, and my three-month-old baby brother. Shortly after Christmas, however, I realized how vulnerable and mortal I was, after all.

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By Jon Wegner

I would like to say first that I’m not a doctor so I don’t know all the technical words for what I describe in the following paragraphs. But I speak in layman’s terms that I think most people understand. I have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and as I sit here I’ve been thinking what my life is going to be like in a year, five years and 10 years from now? I’m 49 years old and I suppose I’m getting set in my ways. My MS is only going to get worse. That’s not a very cheerful thought but I try to never feel sorry for myself. I was dealt this hand of cards and I have to deal with it the only way that I know how, with laughter and a never say die attitude! I was diagnosed in 1991 but now that I know what the symptoms of MS are I can easily trace it back to 1980 and maybe even earlier. It’s ironic but I managed health clubs in southern Minnesota from 1980 until May of 1987. It’s ironic because I used to be able to run a couple of miles per day and also bicycle 20 miles the same day. Now I can hardly get out of bed and when I do I’m reaching for my electric scooter or my walker.

The first symptom that I clearly remember is from 1980. Obviously, I didn’t know it was a symptom back then but I do now. I was working at a racquetball club in my hometown of Rochester, MN. I remember sitting in the whirlpool after work or working out and when I got out of the whirlpool I would feel strange. I thought I just didn’t like the hot water because the whirlpools were at least 105 degrees. I couldn’t explain the feelings then and I can’t explain them now but I just didn’t feel right! I was sort of lightheaded, a little dizzy, and sort of wobbly. Thinking back now I was at the clubs for almost 7 years and I bet I wasn’t in the whirlpools more than six times! I also remember having that feeling when I sat in the saunas or the tanning beds. Now I know that it was the beginning of my sensitivity to heat. When I think back I can’t believe that my MS was in my body just waiting to get out. I did a lot of activities in the 80’s that made me warm and I always drank extra beer and blew it off that I just didn’t like heat! Who would ever imagine that it was multiple sclerosis? I know I didn’t.

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By Michael Russell

If you have Multiple Sclerosis, you without a doubt have at least some occasional bouts of low vision. It is rare for anyone with Multiple Sclerosis to escape this often-terrifying limitation. An encounter with vision problems of some sort is usually what signals a problem that begins the journey into a sometimes-tedious ordeal of a diagnosis of MS. Seemingly simple symptoms such as blurred or double vision, floaters and a dimming of or loss of color recognition can more than just disrupt your life. It can leave you feeling like a helpless victim, unprepared and very frightened.

Suddenly, your lifetime enjoyment in jotting notes and letters to friends and loved ones and reading your morning paper or a book every now and then, just became more complicated - even impossible and these are just the things you look forward to doing. Just think about how dependent we are on our eyesight. Because we can see, we don’t bump into walls and other obstacles. There are traffic and street signs with particular colors that are important for us to be able to not only see but also recognize for the safety of others and ourselves.

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By: Jeff Wilson

A disease of the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves; living with multiple sclerosis is debilitating. Myelin, also known as the myelin sheath, is a fatty tissue which surrounds and protects the nerve fibers of the central nervous system, helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses. If the myelin begins to deteriorate, it leaves scar tissue called sclerosis. Myelin protects nerve fibers, and when it is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, thereby producing the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

Affecting more than 350,000 people in the U.S., multiple sclerosis is diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 40. Multiple Sclerosis is twice as likely to occur in Caucasians, more than any other group, and women are more likely than men to be affected by MS earlier in life. Later in life, the incidence of the disease in men and women is almost equal.
To date, the cause of Multiple Sclerosis is unknown. Researchers suspect that a foreign object such as a virus or an abnormal gene changes myelin so that the immune system perceives myelin as an intruder and attacks it. While some of the myelin may be repaired, it may disappear altogether, leaving nerves without a protective cover.

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By Russ Miles

In denial, I was slow to accept Multiple Sclerosis. Who, after all, would embrace a diagnosis of the dread disease of no known cause, and for which there was no cure?

“The mission of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society® is to end the devastating effects of MS. Approximately 400,000 Americans acknowledge having MS, and every week about 200 people are diagnosed. Worldwide, MS may affect 2.5 million individuals.”

I continued to operate my own real estate company, increasing the number of experienced agents who required less hands-on supervision.

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By Michael Russell

When it comes to maneuvering around the house, multiple sclerosis can make things difficult. You never know when your arms or legs will give out on you. You appreciate the helping hands of family, friends and caregivers but sometimes you just want to be able to get around on your own, especially when you’re alone and it’s a simple thing. You’d really rather not have someone running to your rescue for every little thing when you could very well accomplish the task yourself. You’re not naïve about your limitations and very conscious of safety, but you realize your need of that little something extra for some of those tricky areas in the house like steps in unusual places and absolutely every staircase. What you need is something to hold onto.

Getting around the house safely and securely can be easier than you thought with “Safety Hand Grips”. Besides the usual places where grab bars are used, like the bathroom, shower and toilet. Safety Hand Grips can be put in all those other areas around the house where you also need the extra support but no one but you thought it was necessary.

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Re: Myth: No one can possibly understand what I’m going through.

I am going to challenge this statement as being a myth.

My husband, Chris, has been battling MS for a long, long time. He is pretty well bed bound, although he can get up into his wheel chair, the pain prevents him from staying there too long.

Before he got as bad as he is today, he obviously went through the “symptom” stages. And, unfortunately, 90% of the people we knew, did not understand what he was going through. They cared and were supportive, but they did not understand.

So much of the problem, during the “getting advanced symptoms” stage was difficult because of the lack of understanding.

No one could really understand what it felt like to get the tiredness, the fatigue that is common to MS. To get so bothered by heat and light that it would bring out MS symptoms. More →

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When my husband was first experiencing symptoms of MS, the doctors told him it was “all in his head”. He also suffers from spinal arthritis. His whole spine is fused, from the top of the neck to the bottom of the spine. Often times, arthritis and MS go hand in hand. They are both auto-immune diseases. We live in Canada, and it took a trip to the Mayo Clinic to get a definite diagnosis. An MRI is usually what finally gives the affirmation, that, yes, you have MS. They say that MS is a very difficult disease to diagnose because it can mimmick so many other conditions. Ot times, MS is diagnosed only after all other options have been exhausted.

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Multiple Sclerosis, also known more simply as MS, is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system. It has been found to affect more young adults during their most productive years. Doctors have found many factors that contribute to the onset of Multiple Sclerosis. These etiologies range from viral and autoimmune etiologies as well as genetic factors that are said to contribute to the disease. However, no specific cause of MS has been found. More →

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